Spanish holiday airline Iberojet will offer flights between Madrid and Costa Rica starting in June 2021, the Costa Rican Tourism Board (ICT) announced.
“The arrival of new airlines to the country is of enormous relevance to continue with tourism recovery, generate more jobs and activate the industry,” said Gustavo Segura, Costa Rica’s Tourism Minister. “Despite the global pandemic, Costa Rica maintains its position as one of the most liked destinations.”
Iberojet says it will offer up to 25 weekly departures from Spain and Portugal to Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Jamaica and Costa Rica.
Flights to Juan Santamaría International Airport near San José will be operated by Airbus A350 and A330 wide-body aircraft.
“When I talked about this before the pandemic, people thought I was crazy . Now they tell me I was right after all,” said Arnaud Wilbrod, a French freelance editor who moved to the Estonian capital Tallinn after his home country went into lockdown.
Wilbrod is just one of a surging number of people who, since the coronavirus pandemic struck, have turned to the dream of a “digital nomad” lifestyle answering emails from the beach or a picturesque town square as remote working goes mainstream.
Once the preserve of freelancers, those with steady jobs are increasingly tempted to make the leap and some countries are eager to attract them even as Covid-19 has made jetting off to a destination office a far higher hurdle.
Data provided Wednesday by the Public Security Ministry demonstrate the impact Costa Rica’s border restrictions have had during the coronavirus crisis.
Since March 19, when Costa Rica began banning entry to tourists and most non-resident foreigners, just 22,405 people have legally entered the country, according to Public Security Minister Michael Soto.
That figure is particularly striking when compared to last year. For instance, on April 21, 2019, more than 23,000 people legally entered Costa Rica. On April 21, 2020, the country received just 410 people. A graph compares daily arrivals to Costa Rica over the same period in 2019 (red) and 2020 (blue). Via MSP.
“[This] shows what was normal for arrivals to the country for this period: about 13,000 or 14,000 people entering the country [each day],” Soto said. “There is a considerable drop since March 19, when we established the restrictive measures.”